The invention relates generally to electrical connectors and more particularly to a connector having contact wafers that are separated by an adjustable distance.
Numerous connectors exist for joining signal and power lines between a backplane and a daughter board. Industry standards are often developed to standardize or define certain aspects of board-to-board interfaces. One such standard is the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (Advanced TCA) which defines several physical and electrical characteristics. For example, the backplane is divided into zones with zone #1 being defined for power and management, zone #2 for data transport, and zone #3 being user defined rear I/O. Typically, in Advanced TCA compliant communications equipment, the backplane has multiple locations for contacts to plug into receptacles on the backplane. Typically, the connector forms a right angle connector.
The connector may include contacts having a combination of sizes and spacings that vary depending on the connector performance requirements. The Advanced TCA standard determines the location of, and spacing between, the contacts in the power delivery portion of the connector. However, conventional connectors that are configured for use with the Advanced TCA standard require individual manufacture and loading of each signal contact and each power contact into a connector housing. The contacts are individually manufactured and plated. It is then required that the contacts be bent forming a right angle either before or after being loaded into the housing. The manufacturing and assembly processes are slow, labor intensive, and costly.
A need exists for an improved connector design with a reduced part count that can be more economically manufactured.